Here at Pop Culture Squad, we have been unabashed fans of the little comic publishing company headquartered in upstate New York called Ahoy Comics. Founded in 2018, Ahoy started strong with a banging first slate of books that included Wrong Earth, Captain Ginger, and the criminally underrated High Heaven. They have continued to deliver interesting and humorous comics adding the controversial and excellent Second Coming to their roster in 2019. More recently, they have published Black’s Myth, Project Cryptid, and added the licensed property Toxic Avenger.
The Toxic Avenger line of comics at Ahoy is a strong presence. There are currently three series in that universe hitting the stands monthly. The main Toxic Avenger Comics series is supplemented by a series of spotlight crossovers called Toxie Team-Up, and Matt Bors, the TA showrunner at Ahoy, has resurrected the Toxic Crusaders cartoon from the ’90s and turned it into a fantastic comic. We caught up with Bors on the Pop Culture SquadCast over the summer to talk about his work on Toxie. You can check that here.
The reason for this column is that not enough people are talking about the original comic goodness that Ahoy continues to publish, year after year. We are going to talk about a few of the things that you should be reading. There are a few spectacular comics that I want to highlight from Ahoy Comics over the last several months. As we mention frequently on Pop Culture Squad, this it a booming time for comic books, and sometimes, things fall through the cracks. Let’s fix that now. If you haven’t read these books, you should consider correcting that error as soon as possible.
Archaic
Written by Melissa F. Olson
Art by Sally Cantirino
From Ahoy:
Meet Tess Halliday, a broke single mom desperate to protect her kids from vicious criminals trying to collect on her ex-husband’s debts. Following a mysterious message, Tess flees to the island of Demonde—a place of demons, legendary creatures, and a family secret that just might cost Tess her life. Written by acclaimed novelist Melissa F. Olson, with evocative art by Sally Cantirino.
PCS Notes:
Archaic is a great story about family and the struggle to protect the ones you love at any cost. The partnership of Olson and Cantirino is spectacular. The character development in this story is top notch. I absolutely love this book. It is now out in collected form, and if you haven’t read it yet, well, you can find it right here.
Babs
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Jacen Burrows
From Ahoy:
A savage sword-and-sorcery parody from the co-creators of Preacher, The Boys, and The Punisher: Soviet!
A hilarious sword-and-sorcery parody from the acclaimed creative team behind Crossed and Marvel’s Get Fury! Meet Babs, a barbarian thief, and Barry, the world’s worst enchanted sword. Together they travel a fantastic landscape of wizards, dragons, demons, and castles, looking to steal treasure. Their plans are interrupted by the arrival of a band of VERY white knights who exploit and divide the townsfolk. Babs wasn’t looking for a fight…but she’s never found a bad situation she couldn’t make 100 times worse!
PCS Notes:
The biting satire mixed with beautiful imagery makes this series a big hit in my book. I could not wait for each next issue to come out. The depiction of the titular character in both personality and look is terrific. The reluctant hero narrative in this first arc is perfectly developed. Readers will relate to Babs’ disgust with the “villains” and pitiful disdain she has for the towns people that she is challenged to help. The jokes flow freely in this one, and we recommend not putting one and one together too seriously as you compare the fictional world in the book to the one we are living, or it might just depress you even more. Enjoy the raucous comedy and beautiful art in this book. The collected first arc can be found here, and get ready for more Babs in January 2026.
Howl
Written by Alisa Kwittney
Art by Mauricet
From Ahoy:
Marry a science fiction writer, become science fiction! That’s the law of Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, home of poets, artists, musicians, writers, their put-upon partners—and the extraterrestrial spores that are secretly taking them over! Novelist/comics writer Alisa Kwitney mixes science fiction with period drama and family memoir, featuring stunning art by Mauricet.
PCS Notes:
This book evokes a sense of nostalgia in me for a place that I’ve never been to. The setting in the late ’50s gives Alisa Kwitney a place to explore the inequality in gender expectations that we hope have gotten better since then. The recollection of such inequities feels meant to warn the reader as much as encourage. The sci-fi aspects of this book really push the horror boundaries, and Mauricet’s art give the visual tapestry a feeling of somewhere between a Twilight Zone episode and a mid-twentieth century campy horror film. This book is a joy to consume, and you can do it here.
Thanksgiving
Written by Mark Russell
Art by Mauricet
From Ahoy:
An intense, timely one-shot from Mark Russell and Mauricet. Thanksgiving—a day when American families come together, until the strain inevitably tears them apart. But for one family, the cruel and deadly secret of the Turkeyneck Killer binds them together in the saddest, most shameful way possible.
PCS Notes:
Mark Russell will challenge you. He has stated that a major motivation for his comic writing is to question norms and established thinking. This one-shot story will make you think twice at Thanksgiving dinner this year. The book hit the week before Halloween, and you can probably find it at your local comic shop, or if not there, you can get it here.
The most terrifying horror comics have a sense of familiarity to them, and this book sets the story innocently at the Thanksgiving table with a seemingly unremarkable family. Russell has wonderfully threaded the plot point to make the reveals hit just right. We have already talked about how amazing Mauricet’s artwork is, and this book serves as another exposition of a master at work.
Ancestral Recall
Written by Jordan Clark
Art by Atagun Ilhan
From Ahoy:
Black History: For painter Melvin Waring, it’s an actual super power! When Melvin’s wife mysteriously disappears, he must call on the most important Black figures of all time to help him in his search. A gripping new saga from two Milestone Initiative members: writer Jordan Clark and artist Atagun Ilhan.
PCS Notes:
This book is currently ongoing. Issue #4 comes out this week. To give full disclosure, I have heard about this book for years now as the creators shopped for a publisher, and when I found that it was at Ahoy, I was thrilled. Sometimes the right books lands at the right place and the right time. This story is excellent. The Black History device that Clark and Ilhan use to educate the reader is cleaver, and also fits seamlessly into the narrative of desperate loss and search. Time travel stories always come with challenges and the creators of this book navigate pitfalls wonderfully. Ilhan’s illustration of the events in this book is masterful and just gorgeous. We are excited to see how this first arc wraps up. Remember, Issue #4 comes out this week, and Issue #5 hits stores in December.
Alright, that’s it for this episode of catching up with smaller comics publishers. We are probably going to make this a theme. Stay tuned to this column and Pop Culture Squad wherever you get your pop culture and comics content.
Remember: Read more comics, they are good for you.
